Gallery to Host Photographs of Timothy McCoy

The Gallery at Penn College, on the third floor of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Madigan Library, will host “Sanctuary,” a collection of photographs by Timothy McCoy, from Feb. 7 to March 7.

“‘Sanctuary’ embodies hope and refuge in response to fear and loss – here seen through the lens of time,” McCoy says of the collection. “Sanctuary can be as obvious as a castle poised on a mountaintop, seemingly impregnable. However, sanctuary can be violated, and the ruin remains as a witness.”

McCoy’s images generally focus on what people leave behind rather than on the evanescence of contemporary culture. Human figures are largely excluded from his images, although humanity is alluded to through visible cultural icons and remnants. The photographs symbolize the fragmentary, the abandoned and the forgotten while offering hope and refuge.

The unconventional beauty of his alternative photographic process – palladium printing on vellum – underscores the archetypal symbols referenced in his work.

“The combination of heated development of the palladium coating on translucent vellum produced a brownish image that resembles parchment – an allusion to the passage of time,” McCoy says. “The hard paper surface yielded exquisite detail and an etching-like effect.”

While attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, McCoy became enchanted and challenged by the upside-down images in the ground glass of his 8×10 inch Deardorff field camera. He lives and works in Cumming, Ga., and continues to pursue his passion of translating into reality the images he sees in the ground glass.

The gallery will host a Meet the Artist Reception on Feb. 7 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with a gallery talk at 5:30. The gallery is open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 2 to 7 p.m.; and Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Saturday and Monday).